Too many extra opportunities

Opponents took advantage of scoring opportunities against Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn in baseball action last week.

Hosting Ridge View on May 22, the Hawks were hurt by one big inning during a 7-1 loss. It came in the third, when the Raptors combined two hits with an error, a passed ball and balk to score four runs.

Ridge View's runs in the first, fifth and sixth innings were also aided by errors.

"We just made too many mistakes in big situations that gave them extra opportunities, and they capitalized," acknowledged Hawk coach Jeremy Gloden. "We need to clean those up in order to win games like this in the future."

H-M-S scored its run in the first inning, when Jacob Cates hit a double and Tanner Tesch followed with a single to score Aiden Bush, who was running for Cates.

Leading hitters were Bradley Van Beek with three hits and Tyson Tessum with two. Trenton Vollink, Cates and Tesch each had one hit.

Tessum pitched 4-2/3 innings and was charged with the loss. He allowed six hits, walked three and struck out seven.

"Tyson pitched well once again. He gave us a chance to win," Gloden said.

Tesch allowed an unearned run, walked one and struck out three, and Evan Eilers struck out all three batters he faced.

• vs. MMCRU

MMCRU outhit and outscored H-M-S by identical 12-2 margins on May 24 at Remsen.

The Royals took command in the third inning with five hits and scored six runs. They also scored four runs in the fifth and single runs in the first and fourth innings.

"MMCRU really hit the ball well and they put us in a lot of different situations," Gloden said. "I thought our defense was better but there are still some things we can improve on."

Tyson Tessum had both hits for H-M-S. He hit a double in the fourth inning and scored on a passed ball. His single in the fifth drove in Ben Waddell with the Hawks' final run.

"The big thing right now is trying to find more production from our lineup," Gloden said. "We need to be able to put more balls in play in order to score more runs."

Losing pitcher Tanner Tesch pitched 4-1/3 innings and allowed 10 hits, walked six and struck out two. Evan Eilers allowed two hits and one run.

• vs. Harris-Lake Park

Offense was in short supply when the Hawks played at Harris-Lake Park on May 26. Trenton Vollink had H-M-S's only hit during the 10-0 loss.

The Wolves scored once in the first inning, three runs in the third and sealed the win with six runs in the fourth.

Jacob Cates pitched three innings, allowing six hits while striking out seven. Evan Eilers pitched one inning and allowed one hit and struck out three. The Hawks committed seven errors, which lead to four unearned runs.

H-M-S (1-4, 0-1) plays at Gehlen Catholic on June 2, hosts Akron-Westfield on June 5 and plays at Hinton on June 7. The game with Cherokee scheduled for June 3 has been cancelled.